Movie Reviews

Archival photos of Gilda Radner in Love, Gilda.

Arts

'Love, Gilda': A Comedy Legend, In Her Own Words

5:00pm September 20, 2018

by Andrew Lapin

This by-the-numbers documentary misses a step by focusing on the late Gilda Radner's celebrity over her comedy, but it's effective when it lets her recently discovered journals do the talking.

New Biopic 'Blaze' Explores Life Of Texas Outlaw Songwriter

3:38pm September 19, 2018

by Tim Greiving

One of the unsung heroes of the Texas Outlaw music movement was songwriter Blaze Foley. A new biopic directed by Ethan Hawke explores Foley's life and music.

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Arts

A Child's Best Interest Is The Subject Of Complex Debate In 'The Children Act'

1:41pm September 14, 2018

by Justin Chang

A new — and nuanced — legal drama features Emma Thompson as a family court judge trying to determine whether a minor can be forced to undergo a blood transfusion against his will.

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Daniel Collins is one subject in the elliptical documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening.

Arts

'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Is A Fascinating And Frustrating Collage

6:38pm September 13, 2018

by Andrew Lapin

First-time filmmaker RaMell Ross' camera captures fleeting moments in the lives of two black young men in rural Alabama, and refuses to supply us with context. We grow to care about them anyway.

"'Hit Any Key?' Where's the 'any' key?" — The remorseless alien killing machine should probably just turn the console off and on again in The Predator.

Arts

After A Promising Start, 'The Predator' Loses The Scent

6:37pm September 13, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Director/co-writer Shane Black's attempt to infuse snappy dialogue and dark humor into the alien-hunter franchise works until it, suddenly, doesn't. Blame a mess of a script and cheap-looking effects.

Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) presides over a humorless script in The Children Act.

Arts

In The Wan, Airless 'The Children Act,' A Judge Shows Poor Judgment

5:00pm September 13, 2018

by Ella Taylor

Emma Thompson stars as a British High Court judge who becomes embroiled in the life of a teenager brought before her, for reasons about which "it's hard to tell and harder to care."

Sean Penn plays a veteran astronaut who aspires to go to Mars in the Hulu series The First.

Arts

'The First' Is A Human Mission To Mars, With A Focus On The Humans

12:43pm September 13, 2018

by David Bianculli

Hulu's new series features Sean Penn as a veteran astronaut facing the personal sacrifice of deep space travel. Critic David Bianculli says the characters are explored just as deeply as outer space.

Singer-songwriter Blaze Foley (Ben Dickey) met Sybil Rosen (Alia Shawkat) in 1975. Later, the two lived together in a tree house in the woods.

The Music Soars As A Singer Burns Out In A Muddled 'Blaze'

11:12am September 07, 2018

by David Edelstein

Critic David Edelstein says Ethan Hawke's new film about country singer-songwriter Blaze Foley is best at its simplest: "When [star Ben] Dickey performs, the movie is great."

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"You can't see me I'm not here!": Jennifer Garner and a leather jacket co-star in the revenge thriller Peppermint.

Arts

'Peppermint': A Revenge Thriller That's Neither Cool Nor Refreshing

5:36am September 07, 2018

by Chris Klimek

The director of Taken tries out the formula with Jennifer Garner, but the result is a "desultory drag" of cliched emotional stakes and dark, muddy action scenes.

A still from Robert Greene's Bisbee '17, which combines re-enactment with interviews (and songs!) to relate a dark chapter in American labor history.

Arts

'Bisbee '17': A Rich, Compelling Documentary Evokes The Brutal Past Of An Arizona Town

5:00pm September 06, 2018

by Mark Jenkins

Filmmaker Robert Greene combines documentary and theatrical performance to tell the tale of a deadly mass deportation of copper miners in 1917.